Shock absorbing support for lamp shades



-Oct. l, 1957 s. w. BALL 2,808,503

SHOCK ABSORBING SUPPORT FOR LAMP SHADES Filed June 18, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR,

f4/VFOFD W 644/. f BY s. 'w. BALL 2,808,503 saocx ABSORBIQNG SUPPORT FOR LAMP SHADES Filed June 18, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Jh/vroea W 5/114 United States Patent-O if 2,808,503 SHOCK ABSORBING SUPPORT FOR LAMP SHADES Sanford W. Ball, Shaker Heights, Ohio Application June 18, 1956, Serial No. 591,898 8 Claims. (Cl. 240-148) This invention relates to shock absorbing supports for lamp shades-and particularly to shock absorbing supports for supporting the shades of conventional electric lamps.

In the conventional electric lamp, the shade is generally supported by means of an upright support, referred to in the trade as a harp, at its lower end to the lamp structure at the base of the bulb supporting socket. The harp has arms which extend upwardly at opposite sides of the bulb to a level above the level of the top of the bulb. At their upper ends, the arms support a cap having an upright externally threaded stud which is receivable through the collar of the supporting spider of the shade. The collar is secured in juxtaposition to the top of the cap by means of a finial which is in threaded engagement with, and bears against, the top of the collar.

The cap of the conventional harp theoretically is arranged to tilt for adjusting the angle of the shade. Since the cap is to support the shade in tilted position, the resistance to tilting of the cap is made quite'large. Consequently the shade, or the spider thereof, is apt to be damaged or the lamp overturned even though the applied force is insuflicient to tilt the shade. In any event, the cap is arranged to tilt about a single horizontal axis only and thus, even if it were freely tiltable abo'utsuchaxis, it could not possibly relieve the shock of forces applied to the shade other than in a direction tending to directly The present shock absorbing support comprises an interponent which is adaptedto be received on the threaded upright stud of the conventional harp so asto be supported thereby in anupright position and is adapted to be received at its upper end through the collar of the spider of the shade in such a manner that the collar can rest thereon with the uppermost end portion of the interponent projecting above the collar and in threaded engagement with a finial which, in turn, is so threaded that it could be placed in threaded engagement with the stud of the same harp.

The interponent is resilient but sufficiently stiff to hold the shade in its normal position yet flex laterally of its upright axis under relatively light forces so as to permit the shade to tilt universally about the stud of the harp to relieve stresses imposed on the shade by extraneous forces, thus protecting the shade from direct damage from such stresses and also preventing upset of the lamp as a whole, when the shade is accidentally struck by someone.

The interponent is sufiiciently stiff, however, to be selfrestoring with the shade attached and thus restore the shade to its original position when the extraneous force has been discontinued.

The interponent of the present invention may be installed with no change whatever in the existing structure of the harp, cap, shade, and finial.

Various other objects and advantages of the present which is adapted. to be connected.

2,808,503 v l atented Oct. 1, 1957 invention will become apparent from the following description wherein reference is made to the drawings, in which:

.Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a conventional showing atilted position of the shade;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the lamp, partly in section, showing the lamp and shade with the present invention installed;

vFig. 3 is a more greatly enlarged fragmentary side elevation, partly insection, showing in greater detail the interponent of the present invention and its connection to the shade and harp;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a preferred embodiment of an interponent comprising the present shock absorbing support;

Figs. 5 and 6 are a top plan view and a bottom plan view, respectively, of the interponent shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view of the interponent and is taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 8 is a side elevation illustrating the manner in which a number of the interponents may be used for raising and lowering the shade;

Fig. 9 is a side elevation interponent;

Fig. 10 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 10- 10 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a side elevation of another the interponent; and

Fig. 12 is a sectional view taken on the line 1212 of Fig. 11;

Referring first to Fig. 1, there is shown a lamp, indicated generally at L, having a body B, and a shade' 1. The conventional shade of such a lamp is so fragile that electric lamp of a modified form of the modified form of damaged thereby.

Though in the conventional type of lamp shade support, the cap of the harp, on which the shade is secured, does not relieve such stresses, nevertheless it is desirable that the shade be tiltable universally, as suggested by the dotted line positions in Fig. 1.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, the lamp has a socket S which normally is secured to the body B by means of a suitable pipe P. The pipe? is in threaded engagement with the socket S and, in turn, with a suitable fitting of the body.

For supporting the shade, the harp 2 comprising a base. collar or spider 3 which is secured between the bottom of the socket S and the body fitting, and a pair of generally upright arms 4 which extend upwardly at opposite sides of the light bulb beyond the upper limit thereof. is provided. Quite generally the arms are integral at, their upper ends.

On the upper end of the harp arms is mounted a cap 5 which is adapted to support the shade 1 through the medium of a collar 6 and spider arms 7 of the supporting spider of the shade, a finial 8 generally being provided for securing the collar 6 to the cap 5.

In accordance with the present'invention a shock absorbing support or interponent 10 is interposed between the cap 5 and the collar o of the shade spider. I

As better illustrated in Fig. 3, the conventional cap 5' is provided with an upright externally which generally is accommodated in the collar 6 with its upper end extending thereabove and in threaded engagement with the finial 8. Accordingly, the interponent 10 of the present invention is provided at its lower end with an internally threaded means 12 which is adapted'to threaded relationship with thestud 11. At

threaded portion 14 which is receivable.through thecem,

threaded stud 11 i It is also provided with an externally,

tral aperture of the collar 6 and is adapted for threaded engagement with the finial '8.

The element is of sufficient resilience so that it can fiex laterally of its axis about its lower end in all directio'ns and thus permit the hade to be tilted under very light extraneous forces such that the shade is not damaged thereby yet the shock of the impact is ab sorbed, I

Oh the other hand, the interponent sufiiciently stiff tosupport the shade in its normally upright position when it is not subjected to extraneous forces and to restore the shade from a tilted to its normal upright position when the tilting force is discontinued. p I I A preferred form of the 'iriteqgitbnent .is illustrated in Figs. 4 through '7 and comprises a helically coiled spring disposed so as to flare outwardly upwardly near its upper end. Each convolution of the coil is preferably in firm resilient contact with those adjacent to it, the spring being a closed coil spring. A disc with the central threaded stud 14 thereon is secured to the spring near its upper end, the stud and disc being coaxial with the spring. The disc 15 thus forms the supporting means for the underside of the collar 6 and the stud 14 provides the threaded means for attaching the collar 6 to the interponent or support by means of the finial 8.

The threaded means 12 at the lower end of the spring may comprise a few turns of the spring wire itself, these few turns being of the uniform diameter and of the proper pitch to fit the threads of the stud 11. In conventional lamps, the stud 11 is one-quarter inch diameter and has 27 threads per inch. In accordance with the preferred form of the present invention, the interponent 10 illustrated in Figs. 4 through 7 comprises a length of piano wire of .036 of an inch diameter wound counterclockwise with the proper pitch so that it can fit the specialized thread of the stud. This type of thread means at the lower end of the interponent has an advantage that it can readily be screwed onto the stud 11 of the harp cap 5, and while being so screwed on, the convolutions at the lower end can expand. On the other hand, when it is attempted to unscrew the interponent 10 from the stud 11 the convolutions tend to contract and thus grip more firmly onto the stud 11. Accordingly, accidental loosening of the interponent 16 is eliminated. However, the interponent 10 can be removed readily by gripping only the few bottom convolutions-and rotating the interponent thereby about its axis. 7 p

The interponent 10 may be made in various lengths, as desired, depending upon the height to which the shade is to be raised. Preferably it is made relatively short and, if additional height is required for the shade, a plurality of the interponents are connected together as illustrated in Fig. 8.

It is to be noted that the internal thread at the lower end of the interponent is one which can fit an external thread identical with the thread on the upper end of the interponent, such as on the stud 14. Thus any number of interponents may be joined together in a row and any one can fit the stud of the harp cap and, in turn, at its upper end can accommodate .the conventional finial.

In some instances the threaded means at the upper end and at the lower end of the interponent may both be made integral with the interponent. As illustrated in Fig. 9 there is shown a modified form of interponent 16 which is in the form of a coil formed of a single length of wire. The thread means at the lower portion comprise a number of convolutions 17 of the wire which are of the proper pitch, wire diameter, and overall diameter, to fit a stud such as the stud 11. The widened portion of the coil; which is indicated'at 18,'formsthe seat on which the collar 6 of the shade :spider can rest. The thread means 19 at the upper end of the coil are convolutions of the same wire 'as that which forms the lowerthread means and the body and they are'wound so that their external'diameter is of'theproper diameter to fit the internal threads ofthe'c'onventional finial;

t 20 and, therefore,

Thus an interponent is provided having thread means at both ends so arranged that theexternal threaded means at one of its ends are adapted to fit an internally threaded means identical with the internally threaded means at the other of its ends.

Referring next to Figs. 11 and 12, there is shown a modification in which the main body 20 of the interponent is in the form of a constant diameter spring of the proper pitch and internal diameter to fit the stud, such as the stud 11. The thread means at the upper end is provided by a separate spring 21 which is of proper diameter and pitchto be screwthreaded into the body is of the same pitch and diameter as the stud 11. A washer 22 is provided on the upper end of the body 20 to form a support on which the collar of the shade spider may rest. In the forms of the invention illustrated in Fig. 4 and in Fig. 11, the elements such as 15, and the elements 21 and 22, may be brazed or otherwise secured in fixed position to the main 'body of the spring or interponent.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The combination with a lamp shade supporting harp which is adapted to be connected at its lower end to the body of an electric lamp independently of the bulb of the lamp, an externally threaded upright stud carried by the upper end of the harp and extending upwardly there: from, a lamp shade including a supporting spider with a central collar, said collar having an upright passage therethrough adapted to accommodate said stud with a portion of the stud extending above the collar for receiving a finial, an internally threaded finial adapted. for threaded engagement with said portion of the stud, of an upright, resilient, self-restoring means interposed between the harp and collar and supporting the shade on the harp, said resilient, self-restoring means including an upright coil spring coaxial with saidstud, internally threaded .connecting means on the lower end-of the resilient,. self-restoring means and detachably threadably connected to said stud, externally threaded connecting means on the upper end of the resilient, self-restoring means and extending through said passage and detachably, threadably connected at its upper end to the finial, said resilient, selfrestoring means having an upwardly facing shoulder engaging the underside of the collar and holding the collar in a plane normal to the axis of, and coaxial with, the upper end of the spring, and said spring being sufliciently stiff to support the shade in itsnormal operating position, to be flexed laterally of the shade in all directions, with the shade .attached, by slight extraneous tilting forces applied to the shade, whereby the shade can tilt easily and relieve lateral impacts thereagainst, and to restore the shade to said normal position when the tilting forces are discontinued.

2. An interponent for a lamp shade supporting harp and lamp shade combination and adapted, when supported in an upright position solely by connection of its lower end to the harp and connected at its upper end to the lamp shade, to support the lamp shade in normal operating position, to be flexed laterally of'the shade in all directions, with the shade attached, by slight extraneous tilting force applied to the shade, whereby the shade can tilt easily and relieve impacts thereagainst, and to restore the shade to said normal position when the tilting forces are discontinued, said interponent comprising a coil spring, an externally threaded rigid stud, an element rigid with the stud and having a supporting shoulder portion extending outwardly radially beyond the periphery of the stud and facing toward one end of the stud, said element being connected to one end of the coil spring with the shoulder facing outwardly fromsaid end of the coil spring endwise of the coil spring and with the stud in the coaxial relation to the coil spring, the opposite end portion of the coil spring having an internal diameter, wire diameter, pitch, and directiono'f coiling, such that in and of itself it provides an internally threaded connector capable of threaded engagement with an externally threaded stud identical with said stud.

3. An interponent according to claim 2 characterized in that said wire of the entire coil spring is .035 of an inch in diameter, the said opposite end portion of the coil spring has twenty-seven convolutions per inch, and the internal coil diameter of the connector portion is one quarter inch.

4. An interponent according to claim 2 characterized in that said coil spring, beginning in spaced relation to said opposite end portion, is of progressively increasing diameter toward said one end at least as far as said shoulder.

5. An interponent according to claim 2 characterized in that said element is a washer surrounding the stud and bearing against said one end of the coil spring.

6. The combination according to claim 1 characterized in that said coil spring is a closed coil spring of which the adjacent convolutions are in firm resilient pressure contact with each other.

7. An interponent according to claim 2 characterized in that said coil spring is a closed coil spring of which the adjacent convolutions are in firm resilient pressure contact With each other.

8. A lamp shade supporting harp comprising a supporting base adapted to be connected to the body of an electric lamp, independently of the bulb of the lamp, in fixed position, a pair of laterally spaced harp arms connected at their lower ends to the base and having their upper ends spaced above the base a distance suificient to accommodate a lamp bulb, installed in the lamp between said upper ends and said base, a resilient self-restoring upright spring member connected at its lower end to the upper ends of the harp arms and extending upwardly therefrom, an externally threaded upright stud member carried by the upper end of the resilient selfrestoring spring member and extending upwardly therefrom, one of said members having an annular shoulder normal to the axis of the stud member, said stud member being adapted to be received through the central passage of a supporting collar of a spider of a lamp shade when the collar is juxtaposed on said shoulder in coaxial relation with the stud member, and being adapted to receive a finial for securing the collar firmly against the shoulder, and said resilient, self-restoring spring member being sufliciently stitf to support the lamp shade in its normal operating position, when the supporting collar of the lamp shade spider is secured on said collar, to be flexed laterally of the shade in all directions, with the shade attached, by slight extraneous tilting forces applied to the shade, whereby the shade can tilt easily and relieve lateral impacts thereagainst, and to restore the shade to said normal position when the tilting forces are discontinued.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 957,110 Schwartz et al. May 3, 1910 957,287 Woodley May 10, 1910 1,861,532. Hough June 7, 1932 2,186,496 Reis Jan. 9, 1940 2,531,523 Moser Nov. 28, 1950 2,745,002 Hofiman July 9, 1956 

